Covid19 Update

Government advice is clear and we should all adhere to the following key principles:

If it is at all possible for children to be at home, then they should be

If a child needs specialist support, is deemed vulnerable by Torfaen County Borough Council or has a parent who is a critical worker, then a safe secure environment will be available for them

Parents should not rely for childcare from those who are advised to be in the stringent social distancing category such as grandparents, friends, or family members with underlying conditions

Parents should also do everything they can to ensure children are not mixing socially in a way which can continue to spread the virus. They should observe the same social distancing principles as adults

Residential special schools, boarding schools and special settings continue to care for children wherever possible

The Early Years’ Service are working in close partnership with the childcare sector across Torfaen to provide childcare for Emergency Service’s and Key Essential Workers for children under the age of 4 year’s. Following the Welsh Government’s announcement on Friday 20th March, where possible, children should remain at home. Therefore, the childcare sector will only be giving access to those detailed here and restricting access for all other childcare places following the guidance.

If you are an Emergency Service Employee or Key Essential Worker and require childcare for a child 0-4 year old’s, please contact the Early Years team on 01633 647400 / 648114 or 648115, Monday – Friday between 8.30am – 4.30pm.

Key essential parents who have children of primary or secondary school age can access school hub provision, providing they meet the eligibility. Details of how to apply, and schools available can be found here;

Please see below link to Welsh Government, announcing funding for the Childcare Offer for Wales and Flying Start will continue to be paid to local authorities and childcare settings who receive payments for children in their care, even where services are disrupted.

Please see below a message from Welsh Government which outlines a support package for small businesses worth £200m which will be rolled out immediately to help deal with the impact of coronavirus. The full letter can be viewed here

If you are registered with CIW you must notify them of any changes or incidents at your service

You should notify CIW of confirmed and suspected cases of COVID-19 of people using the service, staff and the family of staff. By suspected, we mean people showing symptoms of the virus (new continuous cough and high temperature).

Please use CIW Online to notify us and report as you would any infectious disease. If your childcare and play service (including childminders) is now closed please inform us, the relevant notification can be found under "Leadership and Management" on CIW Online.

The government is committed to doing whatever it takes to support businesses and individuals through the Coronavirus pandemic. On 20 March as part of these efforts the Chancellor announced the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme.

This funding will be open to all employers with a PAYE payroll scheme that was created and started on or before 28 February 2020, including charities. Employers can apply for grants of 80% of furloughed employees' (employees on a leave of absence) monthly wage costs, up to £2,500 a month, plus the associated Employer National Insurance contributions and minimum automatic enrolment employer pension contributions on that wage, provided they keep the worker employed. The scheme will cover the cost of wages backdated to 1 March 2020, if applicable.

HMRC have been working night and day to develop this scheme, and we can now confirm that we have been able to publish further details of the scheme on GOV.UK. We are aiming to have the scheme up and running by the end of April 2020. More detailed guidance will be published in due course and please be assured we will advise you when the scheme is open.

In response to the coronavirus, BBC Children in Need are temporarily pausing their current grant programmes to launch two new Covid-19 Response Grants to enable organisations to continue to support disadvantaged children and young people aged 18 years and under. The funding will be open to current grantees and new applicants to help them to respond and adapt to the short, medium and longer-term impact of the coronavirus.
The COVID-19 Response Programmes are as follows:
• From the 18th May 2020 current BBC Children in Need grant-holders will be able to apply for funding of up to £5,000 over a six-month period through the Covid-19 2020 Booster Grants Programme.
• From the 8th June registered not-for-profit organisations will be able to apply to the Covid-19 Large Grants programme for funding of up to £80,000 over an 18-month period.
Details on both funds will be made available shortly.

Community Foundation Wales is launching the fund with an initial £200,000. Funding for charities, community groups and not for profit organisations working in Wales, who provide activities to vulnerable groups. It will also support organisations who are adapting the way they work to respond to the rapidly changing needs in their communities.

The Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) has launched a new Coronavirus Emergency Fund. Through this fund smaller charities, not for profit organisations, social enterprises and unregistered community groups can apply for grants of up to £10,000 to help them to continue to deliver much needed support to within their communities. The funding is available to help with core costs, staffing, volunteer costs, supplies and equipment, communications or other critical charitable areas. CAF will aim for grants to be paid to selected organisations within 14 days of application.